The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-04-22
TEMPERANCE READING.
A CURSED THING.

striking on rum all the while For it
is the curse of all curses"
The speaker was man whom l
greatly respected, and for whose
friendship, now thing of memory, l
thank God. / remember that prom
ised that man to assail the curse of
strong drink at all proper times and
seasons, as long as welded a pen. A
VOW to the dead should be a sacred
thing. How it grew upon this man,
his hatred for the traffic in intoxicat-
ing liquors. 1t is singular. that all
Temperance workers tend to become
rabld. They grow in zeal for their
cause as no other sectaries do. becom-
ing hot. hotter, hottest. Your real
Temperance reformer, who once gives
himself to the idea, becomes a "fanat.
ic." Did You ever think why? He
would rather child of his would die
than marry tippler. He breaks
friendship with you, if you are even a
moderate drinkers He dissolves
partnership to get rid of an associate
who has begun to drink; and he moves
heaven and earth to eject an agent, or
manager, or even a fellow-director in
any corporation in which he has inter-
est. How he raves! He leaves his old
grocer because the man sells drinks on
the sly; and the Temperance reformer,
once in full tilt, will walk five blocks
to avoid trading with druggist who
has begun to do better business with
dashed soda water than with quiz
nine. How mad he is! He foams
against the churches and the ministers,
because, as he thinks, they are not suf-
ticiently active in the good cause Of
anti-rum. He becomes "unreasona-
bic, a ''bore," an "offense against
good taste" and very many polite peo-
pie ''can not bear him at all" as he is
everlastingly inveighing against the
curse of curses. Did you ever wonder
why?
This is why. Because no one knows
the hell that rum is making on this
earth till he stops and looks into it.
The most of us confess that the inor-
dinate use of strong drink is a great
evil; but we are too busy to think of
it further, and we pass on. But let a
man or woman once become known as
| interested, and such a swarm of skele-
ton arms reach up their skinny fingers
clutching for help! Such a sea of
wild eyes flash out of the midnight of
the horror beneath us, appealing for
help! Such wall, such chorus,
such a diapason of groans salute The
reformer, all because he is a reformer,
and new to the business. "Help me!
Have mercy on me!'' Gentle reader,
these are the voices and sights that
make men fanatics. You know moth
ing of them. They do not appeal TO
you, for you have not the reputation
of being a reformer. The drunken
miserables hide from you. The
poisoned rats burrow out of sight.
But he who has once turned an inquir-
ing and kindly face towards the VIC
tins of drink is besieged with crowd
ing horrors.
And is it not The curse of all curses?
Is there any i'll that flesh is subject to
which rum can not bring? Name
disease which drink does not call at
command, as chief devil calls his
under-devils. Psychologists say there
is not one. Name calamity which
drink can not bring upon us. It can
cause us to forfeit our employment. 1t
can destroy our savings. 1t can break
up the closest friendship. 1t can rob
us OF the respect of all decent men. It
can drive us out of our native village,
out of our home, out of the world. A
monopoly of miseries is rum; and the
lesser miseries never dare break the
combination. 1t is close corporation
OF woes; and no good thing is ever adj
mitted to the hellish firm. 1t is an in
dustry of sorrows which never shuts
down to repair even wheel, which
even drives its machinery faster on
Sundays and holidays and nights than
during proper working hours; which,
alas, in the hardest times is behind in
filling orders. Orders for pains and
shame; orders for beggars and Grimm
ais; orders for widows and orphans and
insane; orders from hell.
Every distillery should bear the sign:
THE CURSE Factory" On its great
carts about town should be written:
"QuGrrels breooed at short notice" On
advertisements should be printed:
"Any and all kinds Of mischief fur
salSIted at the Lowest price, and warrant
ed to last lifetime" These splendid
vehicles, drawn by the noblest horses
in the streets, grind little child to
mangled, blood mass of quivering pulp
at every corner. But yet they are per-
mitted to run. They dismember a
woman of all her happiness on every
block. Yet they are permitted to run
because the quivering, palpitating
victims are not seen. Yet some of us
see these things as they are
We read the proud name of the brew
Ell, and contrast the fine house in which
he lives with the novels which his
trade has made; and we wonder what |
the common Father will say at last to |
these wicked brothers who have paint
ed their dwellings with the blood of |
their brothers. For there cometh a |
day when the curse of all curses shall |
itself be cursed by Him who has pow
er to curse, and none can bless. Even
now is it not written: Cursed be he |
that putteth the cup to his brothers
lips?''-ReU. Emory j. Haynes, D. D.,
TN Golden Rule.
Respectable " Whisky.
Persons talk about &" the respectable |
saloon''-so-called. There can he no |